The annual inflation rate in the euro area was 8.9% in July, compared with 8.6% in June, the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) confirmed on Thursday 18 August. At EU level, it was 9.8% in July, compared with 9.6% the previous month.
The lowest annual rates were registered in France, Malta (both 6.8%) and Finland (8.0%), while the highest rates were recorded in Estonia (23.2%), Latvia (21.3%) and Lithuania (20.9%). Price increases were 8.4% in Italy, 8.5% in Germany and 10.7% in Spain.
In July, the strongest contributions to the annual euro area inflation came from energy (+4.02 percentage points, pp), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+2.08 pp).
At the end of July, the ECB raised its key interest rates by 0.50 basis points and introduced a new anti-fragmentation monetary instrument for the euro area (see EUROPE 12998/13).
Growth. In the second quarter of 2022, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 0.6% both in the euro area and in the EU compared with the previous quarter, according to Eurostat.
In the first quarter, GDP increased by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU.
In the second quarter, compared to the first quarter, the number of employed persons increased by 0.3% in the euro area and in the EU. In the first quarter, employment increased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU.
Among the 21 Member States for which statistics are available, growth was strongest in the Netherlands (2.6%), Romania (2.1%) and Sweden (1.4%). It was negative in Poland (-2.3%), Latvia (-1.4%), Lithuania (-0.4%) and Portugal (-0.2%).
Growth was zero in Germany, weak in France (0.5%) and sustained in Italy (1.0%) and Spain (1.1%). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)